Showing results for "poleaxe"

• a variation of poleax.

poleaxe

American  

[pohl-aks] / ˈpoʊlˌæks /

noun

• poleaxes
  plural

1. variant of poleax.

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poleaxe British  

/ ˈpəʊlˌæks /

noun

1. another term for battle-axe

2. a former naval weapon with an axe blade on one side of the handle and a spike on the other

3. an axe used by butchers to slaughter animals

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verb

1. (tr) to hit or fell with or as if with a poleaxe

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• poleaxes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of poleaxe

C14 pollax battle-axe, from _poll + _axe

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

poleaxe poleaxes

But all of that is merely the amuse-bouche to the main appeal that “Veep” offers—pure, unadulterated cynicism, offered sparingly in 30-minute doses so as not to poleaxe its audience.

From Salon ● Jun. 10, 2015

There were poached rabbits on strings swung around heads, bigger and bigger swords pointed until the hysterical Olivia staggers out with a poleaxe and Rylance-style, usurps them all.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 12, 2012

"Ser Rodrik should teach me to use a poleaxe. If I had a poleaxe with a big long haft, Hodor could be my legs. We could be a knight together."

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

Keith, acting under previous instructions, promptly seized a helmet and poleaxe and made his way to the front.

From The Gray Dawn by White, Stewart Edward

And in this way I suppose you larned how to chop with your little poleaxe.

From Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia by Simms, William Gilmore

Dog-headed men prowled in packs, their poleaxes gleaming in the light of campfires.

From "Blood of Olympus" by Rick Riordan

Fight in the lists with poleaxes between Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, and Sir Pandolf Malatesta, at Verona, temp.

From A Student's History of England, v. 1 (of 3) From the earliest times to the Death of King Edward VII by Gardiner, Samuel Rawson

We were six hundred, and marched with those damned poleaxes of Auberon's—the only weapons we've got.

From The Napoleon of Notting Hill by Robertson, W. Graham (Walford Graham)

They were followed by twelve henchmen, walking four abreast, arrayed in scarlet tunics, with the royal cypher H.R. worked in gold on the breast, and carrying gilt poleaxes over their shoulders.

From Windsor Castle by Ainsworth, William Harrison

Men with lanterns and poleaxes, as if going to the shambles to kill oxen, hurried along the streets.

From The White Plumes of Navarre A Romance of the Wars of Religion by Crockett, S. R. (Samuel Rutherford)